Okay, the original thread is a few days old, so I'm not going to post in it...besides, my big beef is more with offensive TV ads than with stupid TV ads. But don't worry, I'll mention some stupid ones as well.

But first, on to the TV ads I find the most offensive:

-All the ads for Quaker Chewy Graham Slams. "Chewy Stops the Chatter"...what kind of people are writing these ads? "Oh, we'll sell tons of this product by encouraging parents to buy it as a way to make their kids shut up!" I don't THINK so.

Personally, if I were a parent (I'm not), and I saw those ads, I would boycott that product, because I find it offensive that anyone would openly and blatantly promote this type of irresponsible parenting as a form of consumerism. Also, as a former kid, if someone were telling me that the only reason my mom was buying me these snacks is so that I wouldn't talk, well...sheesh.

Secondly, the ad for...actually, I don't even remember the product's name. It's one of those no-preservatives grain-and-fruit breakfast bars. The ad features a surgeon who has just lost a patient, and his nurse...there is a RECENTLY DECEASED PATIENT lying on a gurney not three feet from them, and they're standing around talking about BREAKFAST BARS!? I hope their malpractice lawyers stand around talking about breakfast bars while the doctor is shelling out that five million bucks in the lawsuit!

And of course, who could ever forget...the Outpost.com ads. I'm sorry, but I fail to see their logic in the advertising strategy "We'll show ads designed to piss people off, that have absolutely nothing to do with what we're selling, and this will drive them in herds to our website."
...I don't think so.


And now, moving on to *stupid* ads...

I could go on for hours about stupid television ads, but I won't. Instead, I'll touch on the one thing about television ads these days that I find to be the most stupid and annoying:

Ads that DON'T ADVERTISE THE PRODUCT.

You know what I mean. There are ads floating around out there which seemingly have absolutely nothing to do with whatever the heck it is they're supposed to be selling.

The most notorious of these are ads for prescription medicines. Now, a lot of the ads out for prescription medication actually do try to sell the product. But how many times do you see an ad saying "Ask your doctor about ", and they don't even tell you what the pill is FOR? Idiocy.

But enough rambling from me. Just my fifty-two cents about TV ads.

(As a footnote: There is, incidentally, one ad that doesn't seem to advertise its product at all, but I still find it obscenely funny. It's a stock ad used by various beeper/pager companies nationwide, that features a woman being picked up for a blind date. I'd rather not go into too much detail, but suffice it to say, you've probably seen this ad, and we've probably all been in that poor woman's position. I still don't see what beepers have to do with her not noticing the couple in the backseat, though...)